The Writer’s Retreat at Good Contrivance Farm provides writers with a quiet, serene space to work on projects without interruption. Writers of all genres and levels are invited to stay on the farm at a discounted rate. Literary luminaries teach workshops and craft talks throughout the year.
Workshops & Writer Talks 2026
Our visiting writers provide two services. The first is a 5-hour workshop. The other is a craft/talk presentation (30 minutes plus Q&A) about some aspect of their work. These happen on successive Saturdays (the workshop first; the talk the next Saturday).
Sarah Pinsker
Sarah Pinsker’s Workshop
November 7, 2026:
10:00-4:00
AI Can’t Write A Good Story But You Can: Turning Ideas Into Drafts
Limited seating, lunch included: $265. Reserve your seat here!
We’ve all seen the ads for new apps that promise to do all the hard parts of writing for us, but learning to work through the hard parts is a worthwhile skill to develop. Whether you love to write but struggle to come up with ideas or have great ideas but struggle to finish drafts, this workshop can help. Learn how to generate ideas with depth, develop your characters, manage pacing in the mysterious middle, infuse the kind of interiority that sets human-written work apart from machine, and find the perfect beginning and ending.
Sarah Pinsker is the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K Dick Award winning author of A Song For A New Day, We Are Satellites, Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea, Lost Places, Haunt Sweet Home, and over sixty works of short fiction. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages. She has taught at the venerable Clarion and Clarion West summer workshops, and serves as the writer-in-residence for the Kratz Center for Creative Writing at Goucher College. She lives in Baltimore with her wife and two weird dogs.
More Fun During Our Fundraising Season!
Auction: Manuscript Consultation with Award-winning Writer Jennifer Haigh
Auction deadline: Nov. 15
bidding open now: see below
Jennifer Haigh will provide a written review/critique of a fiction manuscript (up to 15 pages). This is a fabulous opportunity for any writer seeking the keen-eyed assistance of one of America’s most lauded fiction writers.
How to bid:
Send your bid offer (no payment unless you win) to ron@historicfarm.org
We will post the highest bid each day. That bidder will be identified by first name and last initial, like so
Current bid: $160 Ron T.
Bid by $20 increments. Final bidding ends at noon on Nov. 15
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to work with one of America’s best fiction writers!
Jennifer Haigh’s first novel, Mrs. Kimble, won the PEN Hemingway Award for debut fiction. Her latest, Mercy Street, was named a Best Book of 2022 by The New Yorker and won the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. Her short stories have been published widely, in the Atlantic, Granta, The Best American Short Stories and many other places. Her latest novel, Rabbit Moon, has received stellar reviews and is on its way to become a best-seller. Published in eighteen languages, Haigh’s work has been recognized by the Guggenheim Foundation, the Michener Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Boston
Manuscript Consultations:
Every writer needs a reader, and good writing gets better with thoughtful feedback.
This fall, four members of the Good Contrivance Farm Board of Directors are opening their books to writers and donating their expertise to support the mission of Good Contrivance Farm.
Through this special fundraising initiative, interested writers will make a $200 contribution to Good Contrivance Farm and, in return, will receive thoughtful, professional feedback and consultation on their work from Nate Brown, Liz Hazen, Nguyên Nguyễn, and Khaliah Williams, four accomplished writers, editors, artists, educators, and mentors whose collective experience spans literary publishing, university teaching, comics and visual storytelling, and college admissions.
Short Fiction Review
Nate Brown, an award-winning fiction writer, essayist, and senior lecturer at Johns Hopkins University whose work has appeared in One Story, the Iowa Review, Literary Hub, and Publisher’s Weekly, among other publications, will offer consultations in short fiction. Brown started his publishing career at Random House and is currently the editor-at-large of American Short Fiction magazine and an advisory editor at the Hopkins Review. 
Poetry Review
Liz Hazen, an award-winning poet and author of three full-length collections of poetry—including Chaos Theories and Girls Like Us—will provide feedback on poetry submissions. A writer and longtime educator, Hazen has published work in numerous literary journals and publications including Best American Poetry, Epoch, Shenandoah, Southwest Review, and more.
Comics & Graphic Storytelling Review
Nguyên Nguyễn will review comics, graphic narratives, and other visual storytelling. A multidisciplinary artist, musician, and lecturer at the University of Baltimore, Nguyễn’s work has appeared in the New Yorker, McSweeney’s, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, and many other journals and venues. He is the 2026 Stevenson University Artist-in-Residence whose awards include a Baker Prize in literary arts, a Rubys Artist Grant, and an Independent Award from the Maryland State Arts Council.
Camp Completion: Writing the College Essay
Sept. 20, 9 a.m. – Noon at Good Contrivance Farm
Are you (or your child) looking for help on a college admissions essay? Would you like to support a great cause at the same time?
Camp Completion is a college essay workshop designed to help students find their voices in the noisy and competitive world of college admissions. In this three-hour session students will develop the skills necessary to write a first draft of the college essay. During the course of this workshop, students will generate an essay topic, write a first draft, and receive feedback from instructors with more than twenty years of experience.
For a $250 charitable contribution to Good Contrivance Farm, students gain admission to this generative 3-hour workshop with board members Khaliah Williams and Liz Hazen.
When & Where:
Camp Completion will take place on Sept. 20, from 9 a.m. – Noon in the Schoolhouse at Good Contrivance Farm, located at 2015 Emory Rd, Reisterstown, MD 21136
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How Your Support Helps Us Thrive
Best of all, 100% of the funds raised through these consultations will support Good Contrivance Farm and its nonprofit mission. Your contribution helps preserve this historic Maryland farm while sustaining the literary community that has grown there—including the Good Contrivance Writer’s Retreat, free craft talks and farm suppers, affordable writers’ residencies, and other programming intended to grow and sustain writers and readers in the greater Baltimore region.
Bring us your stories, poems, comics, or college essays, and you’ll receive expert editorial feedback. In turn, your charitable contribution will help keep Good Contrivance Farm a place where literature, history, and community flourish.
Even if You Don’t Have Work for Review, Your Support Matters
Of course, as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving our historic farm property for future generations while also hosting incredible literary programming, every contribution helps us meet our mission. We couldn’t do the work that we do without the generous support of our friends, neighbors, foundations, and the public. Even if you don’t currently have work to submit for this manuscript review fundraiser, you can make a charitable contribution to Good Contrivance Farm here.
Thank you for supporting Good Contrivance Farm!
DONATE
Your tax-deductible donation makes it possible for us to keep our craft talks free and residency fees affordable for writers. Any amount makes a difference!
Or send us a check:
Good Contrivance Farm, 2015 Emory Road,
Reisterstown, MD 21136
Or we can take a card over the phone:
443.529.2939